International Paper Leaves ALEC

Other Corporations Distance Selves From Controversial Lobbying Group

As Google, Facebook, and Yahoo have all announced this week that they have or plan to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, numerous other companies have confirmed to Common Cause they either have left the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), are reevaluating their membership, or have never been members. Here are the statements we have received:

International Paper

Spokesperson Tom Ryan told Common Cause on Friday that “we no longer have a membership with ALEC” and confirmed the company also no longer funds ALEC. The depature of International Paper, which reported $29 billion in revenue last year, seems to have been recent, as the company was reported to be a member of ALEC’s Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force in 2010 and were a sponsor of ALEC’s annual conference in 2011. International Paper manufactures various paper products, and owns HammerMill Paper.

Yelp

Yelp was the third major tech company to announce this week that they are no longer members of ALEC. Yelp’s director of public policy, Luther Lowe, confirmed to Common Cause on Wednesday that the company was no longer a member of ALEC, and had left the organization months ago. In later comments to the press, Lowe mentioned one of the reasons the company left was over ALEC’s lack of transparency. Yelp had unsuccessfully urged ALEC to let C-SPAN film and stream its meetings, which remain closed to the public and press.

United States Steel Corporation

US Steel, which sponsored ALEC’s 2012 conference in Washington DC, appears to also be reevaluating their membership. Spokesperson Courtney Boone told Common Cause “we currently are a listed member, however, as we move through our transformation, memberships such as these are being reevaluated.”

Uber

Uber, another one of ALEC’s top prospects over the last year, confirmed to Common Cause on Thursday that the company “attended the Dallas meeting, but are not members and have no plans to participate, fund, or join the organization.”

Lyft

Lyft also attended ALEC’s Dallas meeting with Uber, but confirmed to Common Cause that the company was not a member, has no plans to be involved with ALEC in the future, and was never considering becoming a member.

United Airlines

Although listed as a corporation that had past involvement with ALEC on ALEC Exposed, a United Airlines representative confirmed to Common Cause that the company is not a current member or funder of ALEC.